


a mile is farther in the dark

by silverskys



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: ... and just general creepiness, Ambiguous Relationships, CW: KNIVES, CW: MENTIONS OF BLOOD, Gen, Other, it's all very vague though, like 50 uses of the word dark, montage of me dying over formatting, the formatting was really important so I hope I preserved it correctly ...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverskys/pseuds/silverskys
Summary: Violence is not forged from the existence of destruction or death, or even hatred— violence, at its barest essentials, is an exertion of power and control.suggested listening:"Tsukiakari Illuminate" by MEZZO", music box cover
Relationships: Ousaka Sougo & Yotsuba Tamaki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	a mile is farther in the dark

The train is running behind, the snow from further north having obstructed some of the tracks behind them, so the sky has gone black by the time they arrive at their final station. When the final announcement goes off, at long last, a wave of relief powerful enough to level a building floods through Sougo's system, and he finally lets himself breathe. They won't be traveling overnight, at least. Beside him, Tamaki is silent, having dozed off hours ago as the sun set behind them. Sougo gently shakes his shoulder.

"We're here," he says softly, not wanting to raise his voice. There are several other passengers still waking up themselves.

"Mmm…?" Tamaki's eye's flutter open, still dazed with sleep. "…we here finally?"

"Finally," Sougo affirms, as much for himself as his partner.

Tamaki's eyes take a moment to adjust, and then he rises, a slow lumber that, if he hadn't seen it countless times before, Sougo might have worried would end in his partner crashing to the floor below them. "How far's the hotel…?" His eyes are locked on the darkness outside the car windows.

"Half a mile or so."

"…'kay." He stretches, a long, shuddering motion that ends him far more awake than before. His eyes are brighter now, more alert.

The two of them exit the train car, thanking the train's staff for their hard work. The station inside is lit, if dimly, the lights shivering in a way that makes Sougo think they'd much rather be asleep. The station is likely open late, too, just for this train. "I'm going to get a map, all right? Wait here."

"Lemme come too," Tamaki insists immediately. It's only then that Sougo notices how close Tamaki is sticking to his back, his posture edged with stiffness.

He's afraid.

Sougo finds himself smiling, though he's not quite sure why. As reassurance? "Okay."

The station is small, so it takes little time to find the kiosk where maps are located, but they're already locked behind a grated window, the salesworker having gone home for the night. The rest of the station slumbers in the same manner.

"…whaddaya we do now, Sou-chan?"

Sougo shakes his head in an effort to clear it; he didn't — or rather couldn't — sleep on the train, and his floundering thoughts cling to him like fluttering moths at a light. "It's all right, we didn't really need one. We'll use one of our phones to navigate."

"Uh, mine's… dead."

To be expected, really. Tamaki's not particularly good at staying still, so he often relies on the games on his phone for long trips. "We'll use mine, then."

It takes a couple minutes to take note of their destination against the small lit screen — the landmarks of digital maps are tricky for both of them — but the path to the hotel is easy enough to adhere to, once they decipher it. It's little more than a quarter of a mile on foot, and without many other landmarks in that direction, it should be easy enough to spot even in the darkness.

"Are you ready? Do you need anything before we go?"

Tamaki shakes his head. "…nah." His voice is hushed.

Once the dim glow of the train station leaves them behind, the world becomes much wider and darker. The moon, while visible, is obscured by thick layers of snow-laden clouds, leaving it difficult to see. Sougo begins to feel the unease from the train creep back to him, burrowing itself in his stomach. Tamaki sticks close behind him, so close Sougo can feel his breath against his ear. Their footsteps, without snow or grass to muffle them, echo against the sidewalk.

"You can hold my arm if you want to…" Sougo says awkwardly, the sound looming loud around them. He doesn't need to ask twice; Tamaki grips one hand around Sougo's wrist without a word. It's almost too tight, but Sougo can tell that even in his fear, Tamaki is doing his best not to hurt him.

"We'll be there soon," he assures, but his words are met with a bloodcurdling screech as Tamaki trips on something. Sougo's senses go numb, anxiety and rage pounding in his ears, but in the next instant everything is over. Tamaki is breathing heavily, both hands coiled around Sougo's arm, his body frozen… but he's balanced. And it's quiet.

"Sou-chan!" Tamaki says hastily, before quieting his voice. "It was a cat."

"Don't move."

Sougo's blood freezes over.

The voice he hears now is cold, sharp, and completely and utterly unfamiliar. Beside him, Tamaki has gone numb, his hands locked in place by terror. The sound and feel of his breath is gone, caught limply in his throat.

"Turn around."

Tamaki is still motionless, stuck in a moment now past, so Sougo does the turning for them, pivoting both their bodies at once. The man is shorter than Sougo is, though not by much, so the knife pointed at him is angled ever-so-slightly upward. The man starts to say something, but in that moment Tamaki springs back into motion, his

_**No.** _

~~and the~~

_NO._

NO NO NO NO

_NO. NO._

NO NO NO NO N _O N O N O N O_

YOU C

**CA _N'T_**

## YOU WON'T TAKE HIM 

##  FROM ME!

_**NO N** O_ N O,

please

**ple as e**

Please don't

take him

aw _ay_

_from_

_m_

_"SOU-CHAN!"_

The voice of his partner cuts through the fog, and Sougo, slowly, returns to his senses. He's being restrained from behind, but… that's Tamaki. He recognizes the posture, the touch, the feeling, and instantly goes limp, the live wire of his nerves and racing heart cut clean. There's a clatter, something against the pavement. The other man, the one that was behind them, is nowhere to be seen. "Are you okay?"

There's a response to his question, yes, but Sougo can't make it out. Tamaki's voice is a mess of ragged breathing and sobs, and Sougo's body, still caught tight, shakes with the force of it. The darkness around them is suddenly so small in comparison to those sounds, familiar and yet altogether foreign, a mimicry of the person he knows.

"Are you okay?" He repeats the question, well aware of the uselessness, the inaccuracy, but still needing to hear the answer for himself.

The only answer he receives is the stifling of his own breath, his body, painful in its frailty, locked tighter against his partner's embrace.

"I didn't get hurt." Tamaki's eventual answer is little more than a bubbling mumble, words lost in the depth of his voice, raw from crying, or screaming, or shouting.

"What happened?" The words feel thick on his tongue, clumsy. He feels like a child suddenly, asking his parents about a suspiciously-broken chair leg, returning innocently to the scene of his own crime.

Tamaki takes a shuddering breath, though his grip remains, frozen in another instant. "I— I dunno, it all happened so fast, there was a guy and— and I was scared he was gonna hurt you, so— but— but—" Another deep breath, this one choked with a sob. "But you moved so fast, there might've been blood, I think— I think the knife—"

"I'm sorry." Again, he feels painfully childish, his words downy and soft but altogether useless, a poor fix for broken wood. He bites the inside of his lip and tastes no blood.

"I was so scared." Tamaki's voice, in return, is a pathetic mewl, risen almost out of recognizable range.

"Me too."

"Don't do that again, not even for me."

"I won't." It's an empty promise, but for now, this is enough to release them from their rigid stasis. Sougo's breath rushes back into his lungs and he stands now on his own two feet, surprised by his own solidity. His gaze lingers, for a moment, on the pavement, but the dark shimmers before him mean nothing in the blackness.

"I can see the hotel from here," his partner offers, and Sougo turns. And indeed they can, as the brightness of its glass entryway gleams like a fallen star not three blocks from them.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not here a lot, but my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/eienseiriron) houses some random minifics, if you're interested in those. Second tab of my carrd (linked in my Twitter bio) has all of those links.


End file.
